If you can afford and be accepted into a student exchange program, go for it. But it doesn't come cheap! They won't mis-treat you, but you'll be looked at as a gaijin, just like any other foreigner.
If you have the chance, then go for it! I wish I could have! I'm 19 now and saving up for a holiday to Japan =).
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.